Thug-Run City?

After being fired as the police chief of Lake City, South Carolina earlier this year, Kenneth McCaster issued a public letter calling Lake City a “thug-run city” and “a society of illegal administrative practices, sexual relations at work, political favors, nepotism, voter fraud, election fraud, intimidation, bad judicial practices, ticket fixing mixed with political pressure and favoritism and defiance and arrogance concerning other law enforcement agencies.”

Strong language indeed, but perhaps the fired chief was on to something. This week a former Lake City police officer plead guilty to federal drug charges as part of a plea agreement he made with the U.S. government to cooperate fully with the ongoing federal investigation into corruption and illegal drug activities in the city and other parts of Florence County.

The former officer, 40-year-old William Webb, routinely took payoffs from Lake City drug dealers in exchange for protecting their deals and sold cocaine from his Lake City Police patrol car. The FBI, State Law Enforcement Division and Florence and Williamsburg County sheriffs departments have joined forces to investigate the ongoing corruption.